overseas customers

I discovered this week after accidentally reading some small note at the end of a TA's page that Princess no longer allows TA's in the states to sell cruises to people of other nationalities (in my case Living in Australia). Why is this so? We do have P&O selling these cruises but at prices hundreds of dollars more than obtainable in the States. What ca n I do? Do I give the address of a relative in USA/ What could happen when i arrive dockside to pick up the tickets. Any advice would be gratefully received. I am just so disappointed and angry.

If it was me, I would use my realtive's address in the US. I know several (mostly Brits) who use a friend's address in the US when they book their cruises.

hello coral. So as far as you know there are no repercussions when they look at passports etc.

hello coral. So as far as you know there are no repercussions when they look at passports etc.

I have read on other threads that if they discover the change they will charge you the difference at the dock as you board. I read this, I didn't see it happen.

You will need a passport for travel and identity, so I would imagine it would be easy to discern your true address.

I discovered this week after accidentally reading some small note at the end of a TA's page that Princess no longer allows TA's in the states to sell cruises to people of other nationalities (in my case Living in Australia). Why is this so? We do have P&O selling these cruises but at prices hundreds of dollars more than obtainable in the States. What ca n I do? Do I give the address of a relative in USA/ What could happen when i arrive dockside to pick up the tickets. Any advice would be gratefully received. I am just so disappointed and angry.

have a look at this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=267447

Like you, I find Princess' attitude puzzling - why can't be book through a US TA (including those internet discounters)? On some cruises (and after allowing for the exchange rate differences) the same cruise available in the US costs 25-30% more when booked through P&O/Princess in Australia.

Perhaps I'm cynical, but maybe it's because they charge more because they can? It's not like we have a lot of choice 'down under', with P&O being the only major cruise line operating from Australian ports.

After all, if we're prepared to pay $2000-2500 for a return air fare to a US port, what's another 25-30% on a cruise fare...?:o

we arrived home last night from 19 days Diamond (singapore to sydney)

I booked through an on-line TA in USA with no problems whatsoever and we saved thousands not hundreds. I would not do it any other way.

I am happy to pass on my agent's e-mail to anyone interested, she was brilliant to deal with, we also got a US$100 per cabin credit, plus a bottle of wine for each cabin waiting for us as a goodwill gesture.

I can be contacted at marilynelisha@optusnet.com.au.

Also, we booked independent tours in all the places we wanted to and had a wonderful time at a huge difference in price to Princess quotes.

Even taking into consideration the (sometimes) poor exchange rate, it is still way way better

Thank you for the encouraging support. I have sent you an email raringtogo.

I tried to explain to an agent in my local town today about the situation and how much money can be saved but she was oblivious.

I'm sure one of the reasons they have tried to stop the practice is the flack they receive from our local agents - when we booked our cruise in 2004 the price we obtained (without shopping - newbies at the time:D ) was considerably less than the wholesale price for our STA agent - needless to say they fired off a letter of protest to P&O!

hello coral. So as far as you know there are no repercussions when they look at passports etc.

The people at the desk do not know if you spend several months out of the year with your US relatives or not. Since most people only carry one countries passports...... There are plenty of people on this board who are from UK or Australia - they can provide better guidance. Good luck!

I wouldn't even mind if P&O charged the same prices as Princess in the states. BUT ...

Killarney I totally agree - am sure it is a case of subsidising P&O and easy extra profits on Princess' behalf (can't blame them but sheesh the difference in prices) the other thing I can't quite work out is why you can still book HAL and Carnival via US agents given they are owned by the same group!!!!! If there was even a smallish premium I would definitely support the local agent but not when it runs into the several hundreds bracket!

Killarney I totally agree - am sure it is a case of subsidising P&O and easy extra profits on Princess' behalf (can't blame them but sheesh the difference in prices) the other thing I can't quite work out is why you can still book HAL and Carnival via US agents given they are owned by the same group!!!!! If there was even a smallish premium I would definitely support the local agent but not when it runs into the several hundreds bracket!

Ssshhh, CassCruise...Hal and Carnival might hear us!!!;)

I agree with you - I'd pay a small premium to support the Aussie industry, but frankly I just feel a little 'ripped off' by Princess with the current arrangements. We've booked our next cruise in March through a great Australian travel agent, who has done a good deal for us but still higher priced than what we could get by booking through a US TA.

It may be true that pressure from the TAs in Australia has been responsible for the current policy - in which case, wouldn't a fairer solution be to offer Australian TAs similar wholesaling deals as their US counterparts, rather than price themselves out of the albeit small Australian market? Or perhaps they do offer similar deals, but deals are done on volumes and there ain't enough of us Aussies? If there IS a reasonable explanation, it would be nice to know what it is.

The people at the desk do not know if you spend several months out of the year with your US relatives or not. Since most people only carry one countries passports...... There are plenty of people on this board who are from UK or Australia - they can provide better guidance. Good luck!

This may sound a stupid question, but do the P&O prices include flights to / from Australia to the port the ship is departing from?

not usually - they used to but now it is normally an add on unless stated otherwise....

In my experience the aussie TA's package the cruises with air but not at a discount. That is, it is still cheaper even there to do your own air. But once again we have little access to really good discounts like people in the States do.

I wrote to my US T/A and asked her about this so-called new rule and she has no knowledge of it at all-

I don't believe that a comparatively 'small market' like Australia (and I do say comparatively because compared to US and UK I think we'd probably have far less cruisers other than on those ships visiting asia/australia/pacific islands, but correct me if you think I'm wrong) would or could be able to dictate to the US (agents) who they can supply or not and why would the US economy turn down all our lovely AU$? doesn't make sense to me

I wonder whether your TA is "not hearing" (bit like my children sometimes:D ) this is the response we got from our US travel agent when we tried to book our Alaskan cruise this year :

Hi, Jane!

I appreciate you contacting me for your next cruise.

I am sorry to say that in the time since you booked your last cruise with Vacations To Go, Princess Cruises is enforcing a drastic policy change which prohibits US based agencies from booking non-US and non-Canadians residents/citizens on their cruiseline.

There are three cruiselines that do not allow US based agencies to book nonUS residents - Princess, Costa and Oceania.

I would, however, be happy to look at other cruiselines that we are still permitted to book for our international clients.

Thanks again.

Amelie

If you do a search and try and book online with all the agencies I have looked at they all say it is only available to US and Canadian residents - the TA we use for while there didn't/couldn't but now does;)

Jane

I managed to find a US agent that would deal with me in UK but..........

by the time I had added flights transfers (estimated) one nights hotel the price was cheaper in UK. (Princess currently are discounting almost 50% and a further 10% from my travel agent!):)

hmmm.....well, I wouldn't be 100% sure of anything til I tried to book, but, I'm not ready to book for a while as we only got back this week I need time to think about where I might want to go next. I will be sure to post on here when I do decide to book and it will be very interesting to find out then.

I think my TA listened and heard me loud and clear, btw.

How unfair if it is true:mad:

We book through US web-based travel agents and use our relatives US-address. Have never been charged anything extra at check-in or even been questioned of it. We have cruised since this new 'rule' went into affect, but I hope they don't start really checking into it!!! :eek:

Most travel agents in Sweden have never even heard of Princess!

We have a cruise booked for April 2007 through a US agent. Have not heard anything from her - can't see the problem really.

I had a long and hot debate with the Head of Marketing at Princess in the UK when this new ruling came into affect.

His claim was when you take into account air, transfers and the fact Princess UK are ABTA bonded, the prices are comparable.

I asked him to explain how the price level between catagories differed between the UK and the US, as when we have already paid for our flights, transfers etc then surely the price difference between an inside cabin and a balcony cabin should be the same. He put this down to the US market being far more competative due to demand and that the rates were TA discounted not Princess discounted.

He did say however, that although this rule is now in place, there are no 'cruise police' as such ready to stop you getting on the ship. I think the problems start to arise when you try to claim you are a US resident on the visa forms.

I had a long and hot debate with the Head of Marketing at Princess in the UK when this new ruling came into affect.

 

His claim was when you take into account air, transfers and the fact Princess UK are ABTA bonded, the prices are comparable.

 

I asked him to explain how the price level between catagories differed between the UK and the US, as when we have already paid for our flights, transfers etc then surely the price difference between an inside cabin and a balcony cabin should be the same. He put this down to the US market being far more competative due to demand and that the rates were TA discounted not Princess discounted.

 

He did say however, that although this rule is now in place, there are no 'cruise police' as such ready to stop you getting on the ship. I think the problems start to arise when you try to claim you are a US resident on the visa forms.

I have found that for my particular circumstances the Head of Marketing was 100% right !

My own personal experience is that for a med cruise (if you use a low cost airline like Easyjet) then you are much better off booking through a US Travel Agent. Certainly I have made huge savings in my previous 3 med cruises by doing so.

However, when I looked at the Crown out of New York this summer and a Panama cruise for next April it was definitely cheaper to book through the UK. As Britsbest has found by the time I added the cost of flights, transfers, hotels etc. it really wasn't worth it.

At the moment I am waiting to see if the British Isles itinerary drops significantly this August. If it does then I will use a British Travel Agent for a last minute booking.

PS: I still, however, envy the American passengers their ability to book and cancel a booking without penalty ('before' final payment). We lose our deposit as soon as the ink is dry!! I also like the way that US Travel Agents will often honour a price drop (again 'before' final payment). I also think the US passenger is more likely to receive an upgrade.

Laura

This Princess policy is totally unfair to us non US customers, I am at present looking at quotes for a cruise in December this year, as a guide I went on Princess's website and got a price. The lowest price for the cruise was 2049 dollars, at the bottom of the quote it said "sign in for personal pricing "I signed in (computer now knows Im from the UK) price shoots up to 2561 dollars this is per person a difference of 512 dollars each. I had a quote from UK travel agent and it was 1735 pounds which is about the same as the second quote. These are cruise only as there are no flights available from Princess. What am I getting for my extra 1000 dollars? That extra would nearly get me in a suite(US prices). I am very disgruntled at being ripped off. My only way round this is to try and book in the US with agents that non US posters on this site have used.